Along with “sisu” (the Finnish combination of guts and perseverance), “sauna” is one of the words most closely connected with the essence of Finnishness. The author of a sauna cookbook – yes, of course there’s a sauna cookbook – shares her tips.
The Finnish sauna is getting a makeover as new venues offer creative takes on the traditional steam bath. Here’s a guide to some pretty awesome saunas.
For many Finns, winter is the time for swimming in freezing water, in holes cut in the ice. There’s even a national championship. What on earth makes people want to do this?
Several new sauna buildings have impressively transformed parts of the Helsinki waterfront, increasing the number of public saunas where visitors and locals can go for an authentic Finnish sauna experience – and a bracing dip in the Baltic Sea.
On Sauna Day bathers can get steamed up in venues not normally open to the public, including luxury saunas, rustic wooden saunas, a tube sauna, and a Mongolian yurt.
